The Jewish Cycle of Life

Bris Milah: The Covenant of Circumcision
Why that part of the body? How is circumcision a completion of the human male? Why don’t women have a comparable Commandment?

Circumcision and Your Child’s Health
Is it safer to have a doctor or a Rabbi circumcise your son? The difference between the two, and which it is better to use.

An Exchange of Holiness: Redeeming the Firstborn Son
The special status of “firsts.” An act of gratitude. Firstborn and priests. Why a Redemption?

Pidyan Haben: How to Redeem Your Firstborn Son
Who Gets Redeemed? When is the Redemption Performed? The Amount of the Redemption. Preparing for the Ceremony of the Redemption. The Ceremony of the Redemption.

The Bar and Bat Mitzvah
How does a boy become “bar mitzvahed” and a girl “bat mitzvahed?” What ceremony is needed? What does the term mean? What is the history of it? What’s the purpose of it? The right and wrong ways to do it.

The Jewish Wedding
The special status of a bride and groom. What a Jewish wedding really accomplishes. What you should expect to see at a Jewish wedding, and their reasons. The two parts of a Jewish marriage.

How to Dress and Act at a Jewish Occasion
Is it okay to bring a friend? Expected dress, and a little about the reason for this expectation.

About the Jewish Marital Laws
A beginners guide to Taharas Hamishpachah, the Jewish Marital Laws. The Holiness of the Laws, and some basic instructions on how to keep those Laws, as well as some books for suggested reading on the subject.

Connections Are Never Lost
Can the living help the dead? What can you do for those you have loved who are no longer here?

The Shivah Call: Comforting the Mourner
What do I do? What do I say? The importance of visiting a mourner. The Laws to keep at the home of a mourner.

Birchas Hachamah – The Blessing of the Sun
Only Once in 28 Years! The Purpose of the Blessing; About Saying the Blessing; When to Say the Blessing; Who Should Say the Blessing

One of these days, hopefully sooner than later, I hope to have articles about the following subjects as well:

Bris Milah (Covenant of Circumcision), The ceremony and celebration.
Kiddush for a girls’ birth
First haircut for a boy
Anything else I may have forgotten.